I am a long time Kirkland resident and have walked the CKC (Cross Kirkland Corridor) a few dozen times in the past year, and with great pleasure. I usually walk an hour or two mostly on weekends, for a total of four, six or eight miles.

This past Sunday, I counted the number of walkers, runners, bikers that I’d encounter from the opposite direction, as I walked south from 116th Ave (at the 4.50 mile marker), down to the 0.25 mile marker, then returned up north, for a total of 8.5 miles in a little over two hours (around noon). Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, after many days of relentless rain and the Seahawks were out of the play-offs. As expected, it was busier on the trail than typically seen, especially between the Google campus and Houghton area.

While my efforts do not have any scientific merit, going south, I counted 99 walkers/runners and 10 people on a bike, including baby’s, toddlers and kids. Returning north, the bikers had caught up a bit: 30 bikers and 81 walkers/runners. Dogs were not counted, but I guess there were about 30. In the count I included folks exiting the trail or turning around within eyesight. Some were counted double as we had turned in the opposite direction, probably about 15 percent.

So, why these numbers? My count shows that on this beautiful Sunday around noon, not really a whole lot of people were using the trail. Have you walked around Green Lake on a sunny Sunday? I would think on a day like this, the trail would be bustling with many more people, particularly by the folks saying how wonderful the trail is, and how it must be preserved, banning any rapid transit.

I love the CKC trail, don’t get me wrong.

The bigger issue is we’re facing massive south-north traffic congestion on our roads twice per day. There are only two main roads: the I-405 – forget about it. Drive Lake Washington Blvd, through downtown up to Market Street and Juanita, and it is also a crawl. And it won’t get any better in the coming decades, and there are no viable alternatives.

I support ST3 on the CKC as it is the only opportunity we have to unload our Kirkland congestion. The CKC trail as we know it today will be wrecked during the – two-year construction period of ST3 – no doubt about it. What we gain in the end is a wonderful corridor for both rail and trail users.